DC fifth grader shows honesty to be the best policy

Dassel-Cokato fifth grader Madison Hasty put the character building pillars she just learned to the test recently, proving honesty is the best policy.

During a trip to the local Dairy Queen, Madison, daughter of Lynne and Rich Hasty of Dassel, found an envelope of money in the parking lot.

She didn’t hesitate to try and find the rightful owner of the $221 in the envelope. Madison’s first thought was to go into the restaurant and see if anyone had lost anything.

With no success, her next thought was to go to the bank listed on the envelope.

So, Madison and her mother went to First National Bank of Cokato and spoke with Jason Ryan, vice president of the bank.

She explained the story to Ryan, hoping he could help her find the owner of the money.

Ryan was so impressed by Madison’s honesty that he gave her a $5 reward out of his own pocket.

Madison’s mother can’t help but think her daughter’s actions may have had something to do with the character building pillars she was recently introduced to by her new middle school principal, Gary Johnson earlier that week.

He told the story of finding a $5 bill in the hallway at school and making a choice whether or not to turn it in, but that turning it in would be the right thing to do.

Later, Madison told her parents that a person’s character counts in how one acts as a person, which is something Johnson expressed.

Her parents were proud that their daughter had the determination to find the rightful owner, the honesty to return it, and the responsibility to do the right thing.

“I’m just so proud of her,” Lynne said.

The owner of the lost money, Larissa Hannus, collected her money from the bank.

Dassel-Cokato’s character building pillars are respect, responsibility, resiliency, integrity, compassion, and understanding.